Friday, March 15, 2013

Foodie Friday - Olivia's Cafe!

It's been quite a while since I've been able to do a Foodie Friday review - it's hard to do new Disney restaurant reviews with 13 months in between trips (yikes, 13 month. I know that's not long for most, but I miss my random days throughout the year!).

So, on our recent visit staying at Disney's Old Key West, we took advantage of the never-very crowded table service, Olivia's Cafe.

I'm silly and have no pictures of the actual restaurant - just know, it's very laid back and fits in perfectly with the rest of the scene at Old Key West. Mismatched chairs, tables, plates - according to Jim Korkis while guesting on WDW Radio, the story is that Olivia's house didn't have enough plates and chairs for all of her relatives visiting, so people left theirs to help (or something like that!). Another fun touch - they have photos in mismatched picture frames of all the families who call OKW their home. It was so much fun!

But, since I was a slacker taking ambiance photos, we'll get to the food.

After a long day of traveling, we headed to an early dinner with the 4 of us and my parents. We were quickly served two loaves of warm Pineapple bread. It's absolutely delicious. And sneakily, it's the same bread we had a couple of nights later at O'hana. Still delicious, but a little less excited the 2nd time.

The menu had everything from salads and sandwiches to steaks and pasta - preparing for a 5k and 13.1 in the coming days, I jumped on the "Runners Special" of a fancy schmancy pasta dish with lots of yummy things (with mushrooms, so my husband refused to try it). It was made fresh, but already mixed together, so they couldn't omit specific ingredients:

My mom ordered a fried shrimp po boy. All I can say is that the fries were good - we don't eat seafood, so I didn't touch it. But, she seemed to enjoy it!

My dad ordered a version of my pasta dish, but with seafood. So, again, I have no idea, but he seemed to like it!

Skipping the mushroomed pasta, Adam ordered a pork chop that came with a side of barely wilted spinach and mac 'n cheese.

Okay, so here's the thing - I don't eat pork chops. Bacon and sausage are de-licious in my book, but I avoid ham and pork chops - I don't know why. I just really haven't enjoyed them in... well, as long as I can remember. But, I had a bite of this pork chop and it was fantastic.

The spinach didn't really work on it's own, so that's why I stole it and had it wilt slightly more in my pasta. I can basically eat spinach in any way possible (hello green monster smoothies - I drink several cups of spinach a week), so I didn't mind it.

Now, the mac n cheese? Heck yes. I kept stealing bites from across the table!

The boy split the perfect meal for my boys:

Grilled Cheese, green beans, and a fruit cup - check out my 3 year old trying to "cheese" for the camera. Whoops!

Our last morning, we did breakfast at Olivia's (picture free) and had another great meal.

This really is a great restaurant to have so close to "home." And, oh how I wish I could truly call OKW my Disney home. I'll happily eat there again in the future and totally recommend walking in if you're checking out the resort or staying there!